Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

This year I'm sharing studio Halloween publicity photos featuring the beautiful Ava Gardner.

Have a wonderful day!

Previous Halloween posts, in reverse chronological order: Vera-Ellen (2025), Paulette Goddard (2024), Ella Raines, Joyce Holden, Barbara Bates, Jane Adams, Patricia Alphin, Nan Grey, and Anne Gwynne (with Universal's black cat prop, 2023), Anne Gwynne, Peggy Moran, Anne Nagel, Nan Grey, Peggy Ryan, and Gloria Jean (with Universal's jack o'lantern prop, 2022), Ellen Drew (2021), Martha Vickers, Gale Robbins, Penny Edwards, and Barbara Bates (2020), Ann Rutherford (2019), Janis Paige (2018), Ella Raines (2017), Veronica Lake (2016), Barbara Bates (2015), Marsha Hunt (2014), Linda Darnell (2013), and the BEWITCHED cast (2012).

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Tonight's Movie: Angel and the Badman (2026)

As longtime readers may be aware, the original version of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (1947) is not just my favorite John Wayne film, it's high on my list of all-time favorite movies.

Wayne played gunslinger Quirt Evans, reformed by the love of a Quaker girl, Penny Worth (Gail Russell). Wayne's longtime friend Bruce Cabot played the villain, Laredo Stevens, with Harry Carey Sr. as Marshal McClintock and Lee Dixon as Quirt's friend Randy.

In 2009 a TV remake aired on the Hallmark Channel which costarred Lou Diamond Phillips and Luke Perry in the lead roles of Quirt and Laredo; John Wayne's grandson Brendan Wayne (THE MANDALORIAN) played Randy. I've yet to see this version.

I was surprised when I recently learned of a new theatrical remake of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (2026) with a cast including Zachary Levi (SHE LOVES ME, SHAZAM) as Quirt and Tommy Lee Jones as Marshal McClintock.

My initial impulse was to simply ignore the new film, but eventually curiosity got the better of me, especially as I enjoy both lead actors; I decided that if nothing else it would be interesting to see it for purposes of a review.

I'm glad to say that, rather to my surprise, I enjoyed it quite well. Westerns are fairly rare these days, and this was nicely done, with good performances. I particularly liked Levi as the titular badman.

The screenplay was by Kevin Townsend, Christopher Tuffin and Jaime Hernandez, based on the 1947 original screenplay by James Edward Grant. As I'll discuss below, some scenes are lifted straight out of the original film, while it goes its own way in other regards.  

Most notably the implied and/or threatened violence in this version is more disturbing, though the film is laudably careful not to actually show anything overly graphic; this is a welcome policy of the film's distributor, Angel Studios.

As the film begins, Quirt Evans (Levi), carrying ill-gotten gold pieces, is on the run from the law in the form of Marshal McLintock (Jones).

Though shot, Quirt escapes arrest and manages to ride onto the Worth family's ranch, where he collapses.

Quirt is nursed by to health by Penny (Meg Fraser), her mother Irene (Jean Louisa Kelly), grandmother (Melissa Chambers), and little brother (Barrett Klepac). The Worths are Christians who believe helping a stranger in need is the right thing to do.

I'll insert that there were some differences from the original movie right off the bat, deleting the father character from the 1947 version and inserting a grandmother instead. Another change is that the Worths are Christians but not Quakers, which impacts the evolution of the story in the new version.

Also, I don't believe Mrs. Worth had a first name in the original film, so I think it's logical to assume that giving her the name Irene this time around was a tribute to the original actress, Irene Rich.

Continuing on regarding the plot, once he's recovered Quirt plans on leaving the Worth ranch, yet finds himself a bit reluctant to actually do so. When he intervenes with the Worths' neighbor Frederick Carson (John Pyper-Ferguson) and induces him to stop damming up water, the local community shows Quirt their appreciation by presenting him with a Bible.

Quirt feels a bit trapped, especially as he's a wanderer yet attracted to pretty Penny, but with his enemy, the violent Laredo (Neil McDonough), threatening the Worths his plans to move on change...and Marshal McClintock is also keeping his eye on Quirt.

Although like many film fans I grumble about remakes, wishing for more original stories, it's ironic I've enjoyed multiple remakes this year, including this one. As stated above, a well-done Western is always welcome. I appreciated that the script followed the broad outline of the original, with some specific scenes aligning very closely, while it's also different enough to feel like an original spin.

The theme of Penny simultaneously taming a wild horse is a bit too on the nose; my only other complaint is that the final sequence, in which Laredo clearly attends to attack Penny, is more troubling than I would have liked. (And for that matter, I didn't need to see Laredo's scars!)

Penny and her family initially deal with Laredo and his gang with prayer and kindness, but as they're not Quakers, violence is on the table too. Ironically this takes away some of the unique Quirt-Penny conflicts from the original film, making it a bit more of a standard Western, although the respectful treatment of Christianity as a normal part of family and community life is welcome.

Levi is both believeable and appealing as Quirt; we see his struggles as a man on a knife edge who has clearly done bad things and could continue on...or not. Fraser's appeal as the forthright, gutsy Penny makes it believable he could change his ways.

Among the supporting cast, Jones is as perfect as Marshal McClintock as one would expect, and his casting is one of the reasons to see the film. McDonough is very effective as the threatening Laredo and makes the stakes very real. It's a long way from McDonough's genial performance as Marvel's Dum Dum Dugan, one of the "Howling Commandos."

ANGEL AND THE BADMAN was directed by Julio Quintana and filmed by Alex Quintana.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. Although not graphic, Laredo kills a number of people and intends to do more bad things as the movie comes to a climax. PG-13 seems about right to me, all things considered.

Here is the trailer.

For additional thoughts on this film, please see Rachel's review at Hamlette's Soliloquy.

Coming soon: A review of the latest version of Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (2026).

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Tonight's Movie: The Social Reckoning (2026)

Close to 16 years ago I reviewed THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010), about the founding of Facebook.

I found THE SOCIAL NETWORK absorbing, if unmoving, and I felt much the same when I returned to it for a fresh watch last week. It plays like a nerdy DALLAS, with no one particularly sympathetic.

The impetus for my rewatch of THE SOCIAL NETWORK was the new film THE SOCIAL RECKONING (2026), which revisits Facebook 16 years on.

Like the original film, THE SOCIAL RECKONING was written by Aaron Sorkin; this time around he also directed. The previous film was directed by David Fincher.

I saw THE SOCIAL RECKONING "cold," so I had little idea what the specific subject matter would be, and it was initially hard to get a foothold on where the movie was going due to the nonlinear storytelling.

Gradually the plot sharpens into focus: An unhappy young Facebook employee, Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), doesn't like the way the company's algorithms are driving "extremism," so she eventually leaks information on the issue to a Wall Street Journal reporter, Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White).

Over time, and in violation of her nondisclosure agreement with her employer, Frances leaks more and more documentation to Horwitz, who writes a series of articles on Facebook's algorithms. 

Simultaneously there are internal debates between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) and his ex-colleague Charlie (Bill Burr) about censorship, with Zuckerberg an advocate for free speech and Charlie coming down on the side of "fact checking," meaning censoring what's allowed to be published on the site.

Frances ultimately evades legal prosecution by claiming whistleblower status and testifying to Congress, while Horwitz wins a Pulitzer for its columns. And Facebook continues on.

I found this 112-minute film interesting enough to be worth seeing, yet uneven. THE SOCIAL NETWORK also bounded back and forth in time, but in a more coherent fashion. In the case of THE SOCIAL RECKONING, it was unclear where the story was even heading for a good half hour.

The movie's decision to spend most of its time centered on a flatly unlikeable character, Frances, was certainly a choice. Whether or not one agrees with her concerns and/or ethics, Frances is an unhappy young woman; she even comments while watching a basketball game that she's never felt as happy as a player she sees on the TV screen.

Frances is hyperworried, both about Facebook and her response to how the company is run; she repeatedly claims to love her job, but she doesn't demonstrate it. Moreover, there seems to be nothing or no one in her life other than her job worries and her ongoing struggle with celiac disease. 

I'm unfamiliar with Madison's work, though she recently won an Oscar for ANORA (2024), and her flat, uninteresting performance frankly doesn't cause me to have an interest in her future work.

White, on the other hand, has some real snap and vigor in his sympathetic portrayal of the Wall Street Journal reporter; without him the movie would have sunk. I did find his character's snobbery about the need for journalistic credentials annoying, but for the most part the character was engaging, reasonable, and incredibly patient dealing with the annoying Frances.

Strong, like Jesse Eisenberg in the previous film, portrays Facebook's Zuckerberg as seemingly autistic, robotically unable to process normal human cues or express emotion. The portrayal is downright mean, prompting the question as to whether it's fair.  I have no idea, and I'd like to know more.

One of the things I appreciate about Aaron Sorkin's scripts is that even when I don't agree with his -- or his characters' -- points of view, they entertain and drive thoughtful discussion. And as someone firmly in the freedom of speech camp, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of fairly balanced debates between Zuckerberg and his ex-friend on that issue.

That said, some important points were left out, i.e., was/is Facebook simply a "common carrier" platform for others' speech, or did it have the right, or even responsibility, to determine its own facts and silence those points it didn't agree with, sometimes in the name of shutting down "extremism"? 

In the latter case, censorship would turn Facebook into a publisher responsible for everything on its site, placing it in legal peril. These significant issues were ignored and would have helped clarify the issues with both Facebook and potential government intervention.

I was also annoyed by the film's unquestioning acceptance that social media debate over the handling of COVID, and especially vaccinations, was problematic. As someone who was among those injured by the COVID vaccine, I'd suggest the healthiest thing would have been much more extensive debate and free discussion on these issues, and that's all I'll say on that topic.

Among the supporting cast I was entertained by Betty Gilpin as one of Horwitz's superiors at the Wall Street Journal, though in her own way her social interactions were as unhealthy as Zuckerberg's. If the real people portrayed here truly acted as depicted, one has to wonder about the lack of maturity in dealing with others.  Yet these people, at the top of major media and social media companies, are ruling our world?!

One may wonder, after this critique, why I said it was interesting enough to be worth seeing, despite being uneven; it's exactly because the movie caused me to think long and hard about what I was watching, both during and after.

THE SOCIAL RECKONING was filmed by Jeff Cronenweth, who also filmed the earlier movie.

Coming soon: A review of another new film, ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (1947), which loosely remakes a favorite John Wayne title.  (Update: Here is my review of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN.)

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Tonight's Movie: Dear Heart (1964) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

It's been a very hectic time here since returning from the TCM Classic Cruise last week, but hopefully things are now starting to settle down!

I have many fun things to share about my recent film-related travels, including the Lone Pine Film Festival and the TCM Classic Cruise, as well as pending film and book reviews.

As a segue into this review, one of the movies I most enjoyed on the TCM Classic Cruise was a screening of NIGHT CROSSING (1982), which I hadn't seen since a theatrical viewing on first release. Based on a true incident, it's the compelling story of two families who successfully escape East Germany via a hot air balloon.

NIGHT CROSSING was one of the last few projects directed by Delbert Mann, so it was rather nice timing to come home to a new Blu-ray screener of DEAR HEART (1964), which he directed close to two decades previously.

I first saw DEAR HEART when I reviewed its Warner Archive DVD release in 2020. It's an unusual yet ultimately charming romance, sensitively directed by Mann, and I enjoyed returning to it after a few years.

As often happens when I revisit a film, I looked at it through different eyes, and this time around I saw Glenn Ford's character in a new light, which made seeing the film again all the more interesting. More on that below.

In DEAR HEART, written by Tad Mosel from his own story, a small-town postmistress named Evie Jackson (Geraldine Page) is in New York City for a convention.

Evie chances to meet Harry (Ford), a greeting card salesman from Altoona, who's planning to marry Phyllis (Angela Lansbury), a widow.

The viewer quickly realizes that both Evie and Harry are lonely people longing for connections. The quirky Edie takes this to excess at times, almost overly eager to be on a first-name basis with everyone she meets, but at the same time she has standards, refusing to have a fling with a married convention attendee (Charles Drake).

I love that Edie is a fully formed human being, sometimes coming on too strongly or being awkward in a crowd, but also delighting in life's small joys and showing thoughtfulness to all she meets. Edie is the type of person who genuinely tries to improve the lives of those around her through small kindnesses. Harry recognizes this in Edie and is not put off by her eccentricities, which is refreshing.

I described Ford's character in my prior DVD review as a playboy type ready to settle down, but on this viewing I realized I didn't have him quite right. Those aspects may be true, but Harry is every bit as awkward and uncertain in his own way as Edie -- past occasional flings with his glamorous colleague "Mitchell" (Patricia Barry) to the contrary. Harry is lonely and looking for someone who genuinely cares, and he's increasingly charmed that Edie clearly has feelings for him.

Harry has been so eager to be embraced by a family that he's proposed to Phyllis without actually knowing her and her goals or even meeting her son Patrick (Michael Anderson Jr.). Getting to know Patrick, and realizing that he and Phyllis have completely different expectations regarding their marriage, comes as a shock to Harry. Among other things, Phyllis wants to give up homemaking and turn over the challenges of parenting Patrick to Harry.

Most importantly, it's clear Phyllis doesn't love Harry at all, she's simply using him.

DEAR HEART is an unusual film which grows on the viewer as it goes along; it provides both sentiment and a handful of "laugh out loud funny" moments. My only real complaint is the way the filmmakers were a little too cute with the ending, cutting it off without allowing us to actually see the ending; we simply know it's happening.

The deep supporting cast is topped by Barbara Nichols, very funny as a magazine stand clerk. Viewers will enjoy recognizing many faces including Richard Deacon, Sandra Gould, Alice Pearce, Mary Wickes, and Ruth McDevitt.

For anyone wanting to dig deeper into the film, I shared additional thoughts in my 2010 review.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray print is from a 1080p HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. There's nothing especially flashy about the black and white widescreen cinematography of Russell Harlan, but the print is sharp, with excellent sound. Fans will be pleased.

The disc extras are fairly minimal, consisting of the trailer plus the cartoons HAWAIIAN AYE AYE (1964) and THE ICEMAN DUCKETH (1964). Optional English-language subtitles are provided.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...has had its return unavoidably delayed.

Plans for it to resume today have had to be postponed. All is well, but there is a little too much unexpectedly going on this weekend.

The column should return by Halloween. Thanks to my faithful readers for their patience!

In the meantime, here's a fun photo of Beau Bridges and his wife dancing at a party on the TCM Classic Cruise last week.

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Tonight's Movie: Rhythm on the River (1940) - A Universal Blu-ray Review

An engaging musical from Paramount Pictures, RHYTHM ON THE RIVER (1940), was just released on Blu-ray by Universal.

The movie has a sparkling cast, including Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, Basil Rathbone, and Oscar Levant, plus a slew of familiar supporting faces.

Rathbone plays Broadway composer Oliver Courtney, who actually isn't a composer at all; Bob Sommers (Crosby) writes the music for Oliver's songs, and Cherry Lane (Martin) writes the lyrics.

The catch is, both Bob and Cherry think they're collaborating with Oliver, only to eventually learn they've actually been composing songs with each other! Oliver has merely been the go-between, letting each of them think he's been writing the other half of the songs.

The clever premise came from a story by Billy Wilder and Jacques Thiery, turned into a screenplay by Dwight Taylor. The strong script is part of the reason RHYTHM ON THE RIVER is a better film than Crosby and Martin's BIRTH OF THE BLUES (1941), reviewed here earlier this year.

(As a side note, RHYTHM ON THE RIVER and BIRTH OF THE BLUES are just two of a number of Crosby Blu-ray releases in recent months.)

I commented in my review of BIRTH OF THE BLUES that Crosby and Martin were "a rather bland team," but that wasn't the case at all here; they work well together dramatically and as a singing team. When their characters fall for each other, both as composers and romantically, it's very believable.

I'll add that famed Broadway performer Martin doesn't always come across particularly strongly on film, but she does quite well in this movie, and she also has nice hairstyles and is photographed to good effect by Ted Tetzlaff.

As was the case with BIRTH OF THE BLUES, RHYTHM ON THE RIVER was directed by Victor Schertzinger.

The movie runs 92 minutes and features a nice blend of humor and music, with Rathbone and Levant heading up the comedy department. Familiar faces who pop up in the movie include Jeanne Cagney (billed as Jean), William Frawley, Charley Grapewin, James Flavin, and Charles Lane.

Lane has a particularly fun bit as a preoccupied song buyer who, appearances to the contrary, has heard every word of a song demo by Crosby and Martin's characters.

John Scott Trotter and Ken Carpenter turn up in entertaining roles late in the film, playing a band leader and radio announcer, which is fun given that both men actually worked with Crosby on the radio.

RHYTHM ON THE RIVER was previously released on multiple DVDs, including a 2017 Universal Vault Series DVD. It also came out on a VHS tape back in 1994.

The Blu-ray print is for the most part quite good, if just a bit too grainy at a couple points, with some mild damage also occasionally apparent. That said, overall this is a nice-looking disc with adequate sound; more work could have been done on both aspects, but it's an entirely enjoyable watch and I'm glad to have this film available on Blu-ray.

Like many other Universal Blu-ray releases, there are no extras on the disc, but optional English captions are provided.

Thanks to Allied Vaughn and Universal for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. It may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week...

...will not appear this weekend, as I'm on the TCM Classic Cruise.

For anyone who missed it, be sure to check out my post on the cruise's guests and schedule.

The column will return next Saturday, October 24th. (Update: The return date has been rescheduled to October 31st.)

For the most recent classic film links, please visit my October 3rd column.

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Tonight's Movie: Gideon's Day (1958)

GIDEON'S DAY (1958), known in the U.S. as GIDEON OF SCOTLAND YARD, is just the kind of film I like: A "day in the life" police procedural featuring Jack Hawkins in almost every scene.

GIDEON'S DAY is one of the least-known films from director John Ford, but while there's nothing particularly Fordian about it -- other than the presence of Ford regular Anna Lee -- that's not really a negative. It's an engaging, well-made 91 minutes which I quite enjoyed.

The movie was written by written by T.E.B. Clarke based on the novel by J.J. Maric, aka John Creasey. As the movie begins, Chief Inspector George Gideon (Hawkins) breakfasts with his family, including his wife Kate (Lee), oldest daughter (Anna Massey, in her film debut), and two younger children (Malcolm and Mavis Ranson).

He's then off to work, though not without receiving a driving ticket on the way, followed by a long, arduous day at work. Honestly, Gideon does so much and goes so many places I'm not sure how he did it all in a single day, but whether or not it was physically possible, it was quite entertaining!

One of the things I appreciated was that when Gideon came home after his long day, which included being threatened with being shot, his wife doesn't complain that he's come home late and missed seeing his daughter's concert or visiting relatives; instead she's delighted to see him and sets about getting him a meal. Her warm reaction conveyed an appreciation for his dangerous, hard job, and that him getting home safely at day's end was the most important thing.

I also speculated that the gap in the Gideons' children's ages may have been due to his wartime service, and if that were the case, it would doubly explain why she was so glad to see him.  She had perspective.

As a growing fan of Jack Hawkins (THE CRUEL SEA) I thoroughly enjoyed him in this as the engaged, hyper-competent police inspector. He faces a wide variety of challenges during the day, but other than dealing with his parking ticket and trying to remember to pick up salmon for his wife, he keeps his cool and is quite likeable.

Andrew Ray, as the young constable who tickets Gideon and later dates his daughter, has what I'd call a "Patrick Wayne part" as the earnest young man trying to do the right thing who nonetheless manages to irritate his superior.

I'm always glad to see Dianne Foster; as I've shared before, her son is an oral surgeon who has treated most of my family over the years. It's interesting to me that she was in the cast despite the movie being set in England. Foster also worked with Ford that year on THE LAST HURRAH (1958). She only has a couple of scenes here but she's quite striking and does a good job.

The movie, made at MGM British Studios, was filmed by Freddie Young and the uncredited Charles Lawton Jr. At times the film's pastels almost have a Trucolor look. It's an attractive film, particularly Inspector Gideon's kitchen.

The movie was released on DVD in the U.S. as part of the 5-film TCM Vault John Ford: The Columbia Films Collection; it has an introduction by Leonard Maltin plus stills and poster galleries, but no optional subtitles.

This year I upgraded to the Powerhouse Indicator Blu-ray, which although released in the UK is Region A. The disc shares with the TCM version Maltin's introduction and some image galleries, but it has several more extras, including the choice of watching the movie with U.S. or UK titles, plus a number of featurettes; the featurettes include a brief yet informative piece on the film's London and other locations.

Unlike the TCM Vault DVD, the Indicator Blu-ray disc has optional English subtitles, which was a selling point for me along with the additional extras and upgraded print quality.

GIDEON'S DAY may perhaps be the least "Ford-like" film I've yet seen, but I liked it quite well and will definitely return to it again in the future.

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